Intel cannot bear the siege of Chinese netizens and "apologizes" to suppliers

Profile photo: Intel logo on the Nasdaq market website

After being besieged by Chinese netizens, Intel, a US chip company, asked its suppliers to avoid using Xinjiang-related products, labor, and services, and apologized to Chinese customers and partners.

According to Reuters, Intel publicly stated on Thursday (December 23), "We apologize for the trouble caused by the locks to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public."

Intel also said, "It will continue to be committed to becoming a credible technology partner of China and speed up (bilateral) common development."

On Tuesday, a letter from Intel to its suppliers was exposed in Chinese media. The letter requires the supplier to prohibit any form of human trafficking or involuntary labor, such as forced labor, debt labor, indentured labor, or slavery. China Observer.com, known for its strong nationalist sentiments, criticized the position of the United States and other Western countries on the Xinjiang issue, calling it a "century lie."

After the letter was made public, Chinese netizens flooded into Intel's official Weibo account to "speak and punish the company," and even called for a boycott of Intel products.

According to a Bloomberg report, there have been more than 250 million hot searches on this topic on China's Weibo.

Bloomberg said that Intel’s position on Xinjiang has not actually changed. A report on corporate responsibility issued by Intel earlier this year pointed out that the company found through due diligence that it did not use any workers from Xinjiang, nor did it purchase any products or services from the local area.

According to public data, since 2015, China has been Intel's largest source of revenue. Intel’s total revenue in China (including Hong Kong) reached US$20.26 billion last year, followed by Singapore’s US$17.85 billion.

In recent years, more and more evidence has flowed from China and other channels that the Chinese government has carried out systematic persecution of Uighurs and other ethnic minority Muslims in Xinjiang for many years, and as many as one million Muslims have been detained in detention camps. They were forced to undergo "brainwashing" in these facilities, tortured to extract confessions, forced to engage in forced labor, and other inhuman treatments.

Chinese officials have argued that these places are vocational training centers, the purpose of which is to provide trainees with employment skills and eliminate religious extremism in their minds.